Public Opposition To The Siting Of The High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository: The Importance Of Trust

This paper examines several dimensions of public opposition to the proposed siting of the high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. In order to provide a context for the public's views of the repository in metropolitan Clark County, both governmental studies of the repository siting process are analyzed, as well as elements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. This analysis suggests that one potentially key component of the public's opposition to the siting, as well as their perceptions of risk of the facility, may be the result of a lack of trust in the Department of Energy. Empirical analysis of survey data collected in Nevada in 1988 confirms the strong relationship between political trust and repository risk perceptions.     

Exploring the Paradox of Liberal Democracy: More Political Communications Equals Less Public Trust

Francis Fukuyama asks: ‘Is liberal democracy prey to serious internal contradictions, contradictions so serious that they will eventually undermine it as a political system?’ This paper argues that one of these ‘internal contradictions’ is the political communications process and it can be sufficiently serious to undermine the democratic system—but such an undermining is not inevitable.     

Consultation, Constraints and Norms: The Case of Nuclear Waste

The objectives of public consultation can clash with other policy objectives, partly because the norms underpinning public consultation clash with other institutional norms within the policy process. This phenomenon is evident in the case of selecting a site for a low-level nuclear waste disposal facility in Australia. This case shows how the results of consultation processes are moulded by the process design, which in turn is constrained by a range of policy process norms to which governments adhere. The case confirms some recent critiques of participatory practices. It also suggests that reconciling potentially competing policy process norms will be an important exercise in institutional design if elected representatives wish to mitigate citizens' alienation from their governments.     

Public Officials,Government and the Public Trust: Schizophrenia?

In late 1996 the Queensland government introduced new legislation to govern its public sector, the Public Service Act 1996. For a few short weeks the supposedly draconian legislation was front-page news, as the government was forced to defend its changes to standards of accountability in public sector employment. Was the fuss a storm in a teacup? Were the changes really so significant? In this article the impact of the legislation upon the central core of public sector employment, the public trust, is considered, and the legislation's interrelationship with the Queensland public sector ethics regime is analysed. These unhappy people were proposing schemes for persuading monarchs to choose favourites upon the score of their wisdom, capacity and virtue; of teaching ministers to consult the public good; of rewarding merit, great abilities and eminent services; of instructing princes to know their true interest by placing it on the same foundation with that of their people: of choosing for employment persons qualified to exercise them; with many other wild chimeras, that never entered before into the heart of man to conceive, and confirmed in me the old observation, that there is nothing so extravagant and irrational which some philosophers have not maintained for truth (Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels).     

可追溯机制的逻辑与运用——公共治理中的信息、风险与信任要素分析

可追溯机制在食品质量和药品安全的公共治理中逐渐浮出水面,成为2007年流行的治理模式创新.这一机制主要是一个信息记录的体系,包括了生产者、流通者、消费者和政府监管者四方面要素在内.形成了一个产品循环的网络图.这一机制就是要建立全方位的信息跟踪机制,以产品质量电子监管网为基本栽体,及时追溯每个产品的产地、时间以及其他各方面的信息,一旦出现质量和安全问题, 可以及时追溯主要责任人,让该责任人来承担相关责任.该机制的逻辑是以信息、风险和信任三大要素为基础,并根据这三大要素建立起相应的信息风险责任机制.这一机制对地下市场的治理也有着重要作用.     

Balancing Accountability and Efficiency in a More Competitive Public Sector Environment

Extract from a speech delivered at Government-in-Excellence Summit 2000, 'Reinventing Government — A Manifesto for Achieving Excellence and Managing for Results in the New Millennium', 24–26 May, Singapore, (For the full text see www.anao.gov.au)     

Dollars and Decisions: Fiscal Policy and Administration in the American States

Books reviewed in this article:
Glenn Beamer, Creative Politics: Taxes and Public Goods in a Federal System
David Brunori, State Tax Policy: A Political Perspective
Kurt M. Thurmaier and Katherine G. Willoughby, Policy and Politics in State Budgeting     

从操作层面提高选人用人公信度——中共山西省委党校推荐+考试+基本条件加分选用干部的探索

总结民主推荐和考试公选干部的经验,同时克服以票取人或以分取人的缺点,形成了推荐 考试 基本条件加分的方案。具体条件确定后,选拔干部按民主推荐、考试和附加条件加分、考察和研究决定的程序进行。这一做法有利于选出德才兼备、实绩突出、群众公认的干部,调动教职工的工作积极性和主动性,增强组织工作的公信度,提高群众满意度。此种探索创新值得总结,并从中引出相关方面的有益启示。     

On Developing an Inter-Agency Trust Scale for Assessing Governance Networks in the Public Sector

ABSTRACT

This article presents the development and validation of a psychometric scale for assessing public sector inter-agency trust. The instrument is grounded in contemporary trust theory and methodologically adapted from a measure developed for private sector alliances. Tested using four discrete studies of governance networks, each addressing transboundary environmental issues such as climate change and fisheries, the scale exhibits reasonably valid psychometric properties while also enabling visualized analysis of networked trust distributions. Based on this work, we outline further research needs with a view to stimulating greater trust research in governance networks and facilitating more collaborative and innovative policy outcomes in the public sector.     

走向更有序的公共行动：数智时代公众政策参与的质态变迁

数智时代的到来既推动了社会秩序和社会治理模式的变迁,也重塑了公众政策参与的秩序,为获取“民意最大公约数”创设了更多的条件。大数据因其相关性的思维方式、“允许不精确”的数据逻辑和全样本的数据采集方式生成了意见聚合的新能量,云计算平台、网络载体与应用软件生成了话语表达的新动力,区块链、虚拟现实与数字孪生技术成为生成行动秩序的新载体,但是仍需对数智技术在理性失灵、公众参与衰落及公众地位差异等方面可能存在的问题保持警醒,从而使其在公共政策参与行动的秩序层面产生增量,实现技术工具性与治理目的性合一。     

Corruption,Trust and their Public Sector Consequences: Introduction to the Special Edition

Abstract

Corruption and trust are two important determinants of the quality of public sectors. Empirical studies in different literatures suggest that corruption and trust have effects on factors such as economic growth, the quality of democratic institutions, life quality, the size and effectiveness of the public sector and much more. The purpose of this special issue – one that goes to the heart of the comparative policy ethos which is central to the journal's mission – is to draw on a number of country examples to shed light on the state of the literature on the connection between corruption and trust. The aim is to show that these two concepts are highly relevant to each other, and that their interconnections are important to understand the public sector consequences of corruption and trust. By focusing on these concepts, we hope that this special issue can pave the road for further comparative research.     

Internal Whistle‐Blowing in the Public Service: A Matter of Trust

Although employee reporting of workplace ethical violations is recognized as an important measure for managing the integrity of the public service, not many public employees who have observed ethical violations actually report them. This article examines and compares the links between employee perceptions of trustworthiness of different organizational members and internal whistle‐blowing. It differentiates between trustworthy coworkers, supervisors, and senior managers. It uses cross‐sectional data from 10,850 employees in the Australian Public Service in 2013 and 2016, which are aggregated to construct longitudinal data for 60 organizations. Among the three groups examined, perceptions of trustworthy senior managers are found to be most strongly related to internal whistle‐blowing.     

A Twenty-First-Century Reception for Diversity in the Public Sector: A Case Study

In the past decade, most large public-sector organizations have adopted a philosophy of valuing workforce diversity and have implemented a variety of initiatives for effectively utilizing and managing the current and projected workforce diversity. However, whether organizational members subscribe to the diversity value or support the employer-sponsored diversity-management initiatives still largely remains unanswered. This article discusses the influence of employee race/ethnicity and gender identity, associated stereotyping and prejudice, and the nature of interpersonal relations on acceptance of diversity and support for diversity-management initiatives. The hypothesis that these three variables have a significant influence on receptivity to diversity in the workplace was empirically tested in a case study of diversity-management practices of a federal agency, and the study findings are reported in this article.     

Public Administration in a Conflict Situation: The Case of Northern Ireland

This article examines recent developments in the public administrative system in Northern Ireland. The conflict in Northern Ireland has received widespread publicity, Yet government in the region continues. Public services are delivered. The article considers how the public administrative system has played its part in the management by the British government of the conflict. There are many other situations where there is political violence. The Northern Ireland case may offer insights to public administrators and policymakers in managing such situations.